Teen bitten by shark on first day of Florida vacation, family says

Lindsay French, manager of the International Shark Attack File at the Florida Museum of Natural History at the University of Florida, gives tips about what to do if you are bitten by a shark. WILL GREENLEE/TCPALM
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The family of Cody High, 15, of San Angelo, Texas, said he was bitten by a shark on Cocoa Beach, Fla., on Saturday, May 26, 2018. Authorities can't say for sure whether the bite came from a shark.(Photo: Provided by Janice Hotz via Florida Today)

Cody High of San Angelo, Texas, was stable after being transported to a local hospital Saturday. He was bitten in Cocoa Beach, Fla., on Saturday.

Eisen Witcher, chief of Brevard County (Fla.) Ocean Rescue, said his agency could not say for sure whether the bite was inflicted by a shark, but family members said they saw the fish.

A GoFundMe page was set up to help Cody's family, who spent a year saving money to go on a Florida vacation, with medical expenses. Cody was released from the hospital Monday but will need rehab and further medical treatment, said his cousin Janice Hotz.

"On day one in Florida, the family is playing in the ocean on Cocoa Beach. Cody is playing with his niece and nephews when a 6-foot bull shark takes a huge bite out of his left calf," Hotz wrote on the GoFundMe, which has raised $691 of it's $20,000 goal as of early Wednesday afternoon.

Cody High, 15, of San Angelo, Texas, was treated at Arnold Palmer Children's Hospital in Orlando, Fla., for a bite on his leg that his family attributes to a shark.(Photo: Provided by Janice Hotz via Florida Today)

"There were too many stitches to count," Hotz wrote, adding that Cody needed to be transferred to Arnold Palmer Children's hospital where a surgeon was able to treat him.

Cody is recovering and is expected to continue his vacation in a wheelchair.